colm

colm is a browser extension that replaces about:newtab with a minimal, customizable, Markdown-powered webpage that utilizes responsive columns. It aims to be similar in functionality to other startpages, while allowing the user to customize its content without having to edit an HTML file.

Building

This project uses pnpm.

Install dependencies:

pnpm install

Build project:

pnpm run build

Load /dist directory as Add-On in Debug Mode.

Installation

Visit https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/colm/ to install. This is a Web-Extension, and so requires Firefox 57 or greater.

To begin adding content, enter Edit Mode by clicking edit. From there, you can add columns which can be edited using Markdown. For a guide on Markdown, please look here.

Several options are available in the options menu:

Usage

Dimensions and Background Styles

You can modify the width and height of the columns container input boxes. The background color can be changed via a color picker.

Font Options

Font color can be modified using a color picker. To change your font, you must add custom CSS (See: font-family attribute).

Custom CSS

A custom CSS editor is available via the options menu. You can change your font here, or apply any other global CSS rule. To modify styles for the columns container, use the .column-container class.

Note: Modifying the CSS can potentially obscure the page controls. For this reason, it is advised to only modify the styles of column-container.

Local Images

Local image files can be loaded via the options menu. Images must be a jpg/jpeg, png, or gif file, and must be under 1MB in size. When images are loaded, they are assigned a unique ID. To reference a local file in Markdown, prepend its unique ID with local_, and use this combination in place of a typical image URL. Local images are not exported when you export your settings to JSON.

Examples:

// Using a regular image URL
![](https://www.google.com/image.jpg)

// Using a local file, with unique ID 'PpDUkovcYw'
![](local_PpDUkovcYw)

Import, Export, or Clear Settings

You may export your configuration to a .json file, and import it at a later time if need be. This is useful if you want to keep a backup of your config, or if you want to use your config across multiple browsers. Local images are not exported.

You may also clear your settings to return to default settings.